Was it possible colonial powers retain more of their possesions after the war? What areas could be remaining permanently united with metropoly until now, perhaps becoming part of it, like French Guyana did? Suriname, Equatorial Guinea, British Honduras perhaps?
More colonies retained by colonial powers after WW2
- Thread starter Rudi Maxer
- Start date
It's possible that some of them could have been, yes, but not the majority of them.
Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe and Cape Verde coul have remained part of Portugal.
Mozambique might as well, though IMO it would end up something like OTL Greenland.
Many of the Pacific Islands could remain British and American as well.
If Britain had gone the French or Dutch route many of the British Caribbean islands could have remained British.
The Dutch could have retained some what became Indonesia, though depending on which they'd either end up like the Dutch Caribbean (some integrating, some becoming autonomous) or like OTL Greenland.
If Japan avoids a total defeat, I think they could hold on to Taiwan. It would probably simply be incorporated as three or four normal provinces (no prefectures, that's a post-war thing). We may have even seen an ethnic Taiwanese PM by now.
I don't see how they could hold on to Korea, much less anything else, though.
I don't see how they could hold on to Korea, much less anything else, though.
The Prefecture system was created before either World War and while Provinces do technically still exist, as no legislation officially abolishing
them has been passed, they have no governance and may as well not exist.
Also, Taiwan woul have been a Prefecture, as their were talks before and during the war of turning it into one.
You are right of course, prefectures were established in the Meiji period. I remembered that prefectures got more local autonomy in 1947, and somehow I thought that was when they were created. Rather foolish of me to make that mistake, I admit.
However, it seems as though Taiwan during this period was composed of seven to eight prefectures most of the time. Why would it have been incorporated into Japan as only one prefecture?
Likely because it would be easier to administer it as a single unit, honestly though I don't know, all the plans I've heard of have it becoming a single Prefecture.
In addition I think that Taiwan might have had so many Prefectures because it was itself not an integrated part of Japan itself, so instead of it being one (or more) of the Prefectures of Japan, it was a seperate polity with its own Prefectures within the Japanese Empire.
Flocculencio
Donor
One major issue is that WW2 provided a massive loss of justification for imperialism- one of the tenets was that the colonial power should have responsibility for the defence of it's subjects- most of them failed in this. Britain, for example, ceased to have any credibility in Asia after being comprehensively trounced by Japan.
Ohh, I thought you meant the colonies that did'nt get independence until later getting it faster than they did IOTL.
I made a mess of things didn't I?
I meant to say that I would find it more interesting so see more areas gaining independence. I meant in my initial post to not put on that a specific timeframe. Rather, I only intended to put forth the idea that it is more interesting for there to be fewer colonies (and possibly more or larger) sovereign states today.
Well I guess places coul be merged, but really their is'nt anything else that could be independent.
The only ones really left Fr. Guiana, but they've never wanted independence, and while the Dutch did so it's generally forwned upon to kick a part of your country out when it does'nt want to be.
I suppose their's also New Caledonia, but they'd either end up as an inoffensive democracy that happily continues going on without anyone paying it much attention like Vanuatu or end up being the French version of Fiji.
Britain: Malta, Bermuda, Gibraltar, St. Helena, Falklands - all seem good candidates?
For the Netherlands:
Surinam easily, as it was almost forced to become independent ad more than 1/3 of the people living there moved to the Netherlands.
Dutch New Guinea, if the Netherlands would have kept it (possible with international support, as they most certainly didn't want to become part of Indonesia, some Papuans still blame the Dutch for selling them out to Indonesia), it most likely would have gotten the same status as the Dutch antilles have now. They were on route for independence, but I think Dutch money will outweigh their willingness for independence.
The Maluku islands (or at least the southern islands), just like New Guinea they did not want to become part of Indonesia and actively supported the Dutch colonial government during the Indonesian war of independence (and just like the Papuans they actively blame the Dutch for selling them out to Indonesia). They wanted to become independent too, but you need a very different international reaction to the Indonesian war for independence to get it. Maybe the USA forces some referenda, instead of supporting Indonesia. The Maluku islands (and New Guinea) remain in Dutch hands, but when it is time for them to become an independent nation, they decide to remain Dutch partly for Dutch money, but probably also for protection against Indonesia.
Surinam easily, as it was almost forced to become independent ad more than 1/3 of the people living there moved to the Netherlands.
Dutch New Guinea, if the Netherlands would have kept it (possible with international support, as they most certainly didn't want to become part of Indonesia, some Papuans still blame the Dutch for selling them out to Indonesia), it most likely would have gotten the same status as the Dutch antilles have now. They were on route for independence, but I think Dutch money will outweigh their willingness for independence.
The Maluku islands (or at least the southern islands), just like New Guinea they did not want to become part of Indonesia and actively supported the Dutch colonial government during the Indonesian war of independence (and just like the Papuans they actively blame the Dutch for selling them out to Indonesia). They wanted to become independent too, but you need a very different international reaction to the Indonesian war for independence to get it. Maybe the USA forces some referenda, instead of supporting Indonesia. The Maluku islands (and New Guinea) remain in Dutch hands, but when it is time for them to become an independent nation, they decide to remain Dutch partly for Dutch money, but probably also for protection against Indonesia.
Malta was a damned close run thing. Had, I think 800 more people voted in the Integration Referendum, the Malta would have been integrated in the UK with MP's in Westminster.
Algeria could have stayed french if the local population had been granted full rights after WW II. After all, the north was even considered a part of France (Département d'Outremer) and not a colony and there were nearly one and a half million Pied-noirs (white French) living there by the 1950s.